Animes getting the Hollywood treatment

[democritus]

a while back i remember reading a post about dragonball being turned into a movie and since the wachowski brothers turned out speed racer i was wondering again what you guys here thought about these "hollywood" treatments, are they good? should there be more? and how should it be handled, like is the story important or the effects? (speed racer's a good example)

and by the way here's a few updates of upcoming hollywood anime crossovers

Dragonball Trailer Coming in October
ComingSoon.net has learned that 20th Century Fox will debut the first trailer for Dragonball in theaters on October 17 with the studio's video game adaptation Max Payne, starring Mark Wahlberg. We'll have to wait and see whether Fox will release the trailer online earlier that week.

Opening on April 10, Dragonball is written/directed by James Wong and stars Justin Chatwin, James Marsters, Jamie Chung, Emmy Rossum, Eriko Tamura, Joon Park, Chow Yun-Fat, Texas Battle, Randall Duk Kim and Ernie Hudson.

Dragonball is adapted from the manga created by Akira Toriyama. It was also turned into a Japanese anime series that played all over the world.

Kristen Bell Lands Lead in Astro Boy
Kristen Bell (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, "Heroes," "Veronica Mars") will voice the leading female voice in Warner Bros.' CG-animated Astro Boy, coming to theaters next year.

She joins a voice cast that includes Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Bill Nighy, Nathan Lane, Eugene Levy and Freddie Highmore.

Set in futuristic Metro City, Imagi Studios' Astro Boy is about a young robot with incredible powers created by a brilliant scientist to replace the son he has lost. Unable to fulfill the grieving father's expectations, our hero embarks on a journey in search of acceptance, experiencing betrayal and a netherworld of robot gladiators, before he returns to save Metro City and reconcile with the man who had rejected him.


It's a Lion! It's Huge! It's Voltron!
Last week, it was reported that New Regency had put Voltron: Defender of the Universe into turnaround. The news said that Relativity Media is now backing the property with a more moderate budget, utilizing the type of cost-effective technology employed in films like 300. A director was going to be attached in a week.

Now, Latino Review has learned that Max Makowski will take on the directing duties for the project, which was written by Justin Marks.

Makowski directed 2005's One Last Dance, rewrote the screenplay for the Hawaii Five-O feature, and is attached to the direct the big screen adaptation of 1970s TV series Kung Fu and the Shinobi remake.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe is described as a post-apocalyptic tale set in New York City and Mexico, where five survivors of an alien attack band together and end up piloting the five lion-shaped robots that combine and form the massive sword-wielding Voltron that helps battle Earth's invaders. It is based on the popular 1980s Japanese animated TV series, comic books and toy line.

all news courtesy of comingsoon.net

[FuinKnwe]

The Dragonball movie should be amusing.
In the series, the leads are super-ripped.
It should be amusing to see how the directors deal with that.

I think that these anime crossovers are a good idea. It's good to have more diversity in theatres.
Plus, kinda seems like they're running outta ideas anyways.

[goebrak]

why is voltron (golion) is coming to new yprk n mexico??????

[fayrie]

i'm kinda scared the animes will be ruined by the movie...
so i'm not looking forward to it.
oh, and there's also Blood+, that's coming out soon, if i'm not mistaken.

[edmcel]

I think that the American moviemakers are not able to capture the Japanese essence that is part of anime. Also, I don't think that the BLOOD+ movie is being made by Hollywood -- it's a live action Japanese movie, correct me if I'm wrong.

[xiaohua]

the dragonball movie is seriously a epic phail. It simply destroys it.

[democritus]

i agree that hollywood needs diversity but then i don't think hollywood has the sensibilities to translate japanese entertainment well enough especially animes. so i figure they'll end up ruining it one way or another. but then again sometimes when the japanese do it it doesn't actually turn out perfect either (dororo a good example). i guess it depends on who is behind the project. and yeah blood+ here's what i managed to dig up


Japanese actress Koyuki, known for her roles in the live-action TV drama series Ikebukuro West Gate Park and Kimi wa Pet, as well as in The Last Samurai (alongside Tom Cruise), is joining the cast of the upcoming live-action Blood: The Last Vampire feature film. She will play a new character who was not in the original anime the movie is based on, and will at one point fight the hero of the story, Saya. Blood: The Last Vampire is being produced in Hong Kong, entirely in English, with Chris Nahon as the director. The role of Saya is played by Korean actress Ji-hyun Jun (credited as Gianna Jun), and the film will open internationally next year. Source: Tokyograph

The first image from French director Chris Nahon’s live-action remake of the Japanese anime “Blood: The Last Vampire” has finally surfaced on the net via Jeon Ji Hyun Online, who posted this black and white image from the movie (thumbnail to your left, bigger version below) and a couple of behind-the-scenes images of Jeon Ji Hyun in action. It looks like a template for an upcoming movie poster, although I hope not, because the image, well, doesn’t exactly pop, even if they added color. Then again, it could just be a test image or something benign like that, so there’s really no point in reading too much into it.

A vampire named Saya, who is part of covert government agency that hunts and destroys demons in a post-WWII Japan, is inserted in a military school to discover which one of her classmates is a demon is disguise.

The film will mark the English-language debut of Korean superstar Jeon Ji-hyun, here working under the name Gianna Jun. “Blood: The Last Vampire” co-stars Allison Miller, Masiela Lusha, Colin Salmon, and Koyuki, and is scheduled for a 2008 release.

First Image from Blood: The Last Vampire Live-Action Movie

Blood: The Last Vampire Live-Action Movie

Image from Blood: The Last Vampire Live-Action Movie




Oh yeah and the release date has been pushed to sometime next year!

courtesy of beyondhollywood.com and japanator.com

oh yeah and even more animes getting the hollywood treatment!

DreamWorks to Make 3-D Ghost in the Shell
Source: Variety
April 15, 2008


DreamWorks Pictures has acquired rights to the Japanese manga "Ghost in the Shell" with plans to adapt the futuristic police thriller as a 3-D live-action feature, reports Variety.

The story follows the exploits of a member of a covert ops unit of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission that specializes in fighting technology-related crime.

Created by Masamune Shirow, "Ghost in the Shell" was first published in 1989. It went on to generate two additional manga editions, three anime film adaptations, an anime TV series and three video games. The second anime film, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, was released in the U.S. by DreamWorks in 2004.

Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Steven Paul of Seaside Entertainment are attached to produce and brought the project to the studio. Jamie Moss has been hired to write the adaptation.

"'Ghost in the Shell' is one of my favorite stories," Spielberg said. "It's a genre that has arrived, and we enthusiastically welcome it to DreamWorks."

DreamWorks president of production Adam Goodman said "Ghost in the Shell" is a property "that epitomizes 3-D live-action motion picture possibilities."


Lawrence Kasdan Penning Robotech
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
June 16, 2008


The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed CHUD's story that veteran screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan has been hired to write Robotech Warner Bros.' adaptation of the anime classic.

Additionally, Akiva Goldsman and Chuck Roven are boarding the project as producers, joining Tobey Maguire and Drew Crevello.

"Robotech" was a 1980s cartoon series from Harmony Gold USA and Tatsunoko Productions. It was re-edited and re-dialogued to combine three Japanese anime series to give the producers enough episodes to air as a daily syndicated series.

A sprawling sci-fi epic, Robotech takes place at a time when Earth has developed giant robots from the technology on an alien spacecraft that crashed on a South Pacific isle. Mankind is forced to use the technology to fend off three successive waves of alien invasions. The first invasion centers on a battle with a race of giant warriors who seek to retrieve their flagship's energy source known as "protoculture," and the planet's hope for survival ends up in the hands of two young pilots.


and a final one that's a little long to post here so if you guys don't mind reading about it here's the link

James Cameron on Battle Angel Alita!
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/battl...ws.php?id=7891

[oddeyebeam]

I've learned to look at movies based from an anime, book or manga with a fresh perspective. The less I compare the movie from its source the more I appreciate it.

[53624]

er... i've also heard that a yu-yu hakosho film was also to be made... can't imagine how horrible it will turn out...

[nefta]

DRAGONBALL LIVE? Thats crazy. But it would be interesting to see how they show kamehameha...

[Tiki Tiki]

Dragonball? Yu Yu Hakusho? Voltron? I also read something about a Death Note movie coming out with Zac Effron as Light....

the world is ending ppl

[Spinnel]

I just don't see how they can port Dragonball into some live action... especially with the hair make-up lol... It's just... fail --"

[Danshi]

Didn't they announce an Evangelion live action movie some years ago? There are many animes that could turn out quite good as live actions, but I don't think that Evangelion and Dragonball belong to that group.

[Ady001]

The Dragonball movie should be amusing.
In the series, the leads are super-ripped.
It should be amusing to see how the directors deal with that.

I think that these anime crossovers are a good idea. It's good to have more diversity in theatres.
Plus, kinda seems like they're running outta ideas anyways.

I hope it doesn't turn like that James Bond movie Die Another Day... The black hair turned golden

[julioefv]

Well I know this isn't really anime, but a game. The legend of zelda is being made as a live action movie. And I did not like the trailers all that much. It seems like the guy who was chosen as link doesn't really fall for the part.